‘Empty containers occupy over 40% of Lagos ports’

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Managing Director Ms Hadiza Bala Usman has ordered terminal operators at the Lagos ports to declare the number of empty containers there. Over 40 per cent of the space at the ports is believed to be occupied by empty containers.

The NPA, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Shippers Council and the Nigeria Customs Service, it was alleged, do not have a record of the number of empty containers in most of the terminals across the country.

Speaking with The Nation in Lagos, a senior official of the Federal Ministry of Transport (FMoT), who pleaded not to be named, urged the government to stop operators from using the terminals as storage facilities.

Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi and the NPA, the official said, must direct the operators to publish weekly the number of cargo, laden and empty containers at the ports.

Most of the operators, the official alleged, are conniving with some unscrupulous NPA officials and shipping companies to keep the containers at their terminals to create the impression that the ports are busy.

An importer, Chief Onasanya Ladejobi, expressed concern over the Apapa gridlock, which hinders access to the ports.

Chief Ladejobi said the bad roads were hampering trade and affecting delivery of cargoes.

He said the empty containers must be moved to their ports of origin and ports infrastructure be revamped to revive the economy.

The business community, according to him, was not happy that measures adopted have not yielded result to free the roads leading to Lagos Port Complex (LPC) and the Tin-Can Island Port.

The business community and port users, he said, are waiting for what he called “positive action” from Amaechi soon, adding that the quick rehabilitation of the road must be one of the minister’s major priorities in salvaging the economy.

The Federal Government, states and stakeholders, he said, should work together to find lasting solution to the problem.

Ladejobi called for the promotion of exportation of agro-allied products to free the ports and boost the economy, noting that he was not happy that about 90 per cent of container traffic left the ports empty.

The importer urged the public and private sectors to support government’s efforts at diversifying the economy.

X-raying the ports’ last quarter operations, he said there was an urgent need to complement the NPA’s efforts at massive investments in infrastructural renewal and automation of port operations by generating enough export cargo to move empty containers out of the ports.

The NPA, he said, must collaborate with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and Abuja Commodities & Exchange Commission in the promotion of solid minerals and agro-allied products to boost the economy.

The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and Nigerian Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACIMA), he said, must also work with the NPA in tandem with the Federal Government policy on export promotion.